SADC: Zim's problems 'exaggerated' Mariette le Roux |
Lusaka, Zambia 18 August 2007 07:36
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Southern African leaders failed on Friday to heed calls for strong action
against the embattled Zimbabwean government, saying the ailing country's
problems are "exaggerated".
"We ... feel that the problems in Zimbabwe have been exaggerated. We feel they
will solve their economic problems," the Zambian President and chairperson of
the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), Levy Mwanawasa,
told journalists at the end of a two-day heads-of-state summit in Lusaka,
Zambia.
"We are quite satisfied with the report from South African President Thabo
Mbeki on the crisis in Zimbabwe," said the Zambian leader, who recently likened
neighbouring Zimbabwe to a "sinking Titanic".
Zimbabwe is in the throes of an economic crisis with inflation well past the 5
000% mark, four in five people jobless and 80% of the population living below
the poverty threshold.
The SADC mandated Mbeki in March to mediate between Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Mbeki reported on progress to the summit, while SADC secretariat executive
chairperson Tomaz Salomao briefed heads of state on Zimbabwe's dire economic
straits.
'Work in progress'
Mbeki told a news conference later the rival Zimbabwean parties remain engaged
in talks on the basis of a mutually agreed agenda, describing it as "work in
progress".
"They ... are making progress in these discussions," said the president, adding
any breakthrough would be reported to SADC. "Everybody is interested that when
the presidential and parliamentary elections take place in March next year in
Zimbabwe, they should be held in an atmosphere that will result in free and
fair elections without controversies and so on."
But Mbeki said no conditions or deadlines have been set. "Nobody has talked
about conditionalities of anything."
Mwanawasa said SADC is satisfied that Zimbabwe's existing electoral laws are
conducive to free and fair polls.
Mugabe has blamed his country's woes on drought and Western sanctions, but
critics say problems started with a controversial government land-reform
programme that saw thousands of white-owned commercial farms seized and
redistributed to landless blacks and government cronies.
Mugabe is also criticised for stifling democracy and overseeing a violent
government clampdown on the opposition.
Economic problems
Mbeki said Zimbabwe's economic problems will be looked into urgently, on the
basis of Salomao's report, by a committee of finance ministers. The ministers
will discuss the matter with the Zimbabwean government "to pin down in some
detail what indeed the region can do with regard to economic recovery".
"There is urgency for us to get into this matter [of Zimbabwe's failing
economy]," said Mbeki.
Before the summit opened, Mugabe's Justice Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, said on
Thursday that no political reforms are necessary in his country. "We have a
democracy like any other democracy in this world ... I cannot see how a system
can be any fairer or more transparent [than it is in Zimbabwe]," he told
journalists.
"You have a situation where issues are being portrayed, exaggerated. People
portray Zimbabwe as a country that has become ungovernable. Nothing is further
from the truth," the minister said.
Zanu-PF has been the ruling political party in Zimbabwe since independence from
Britain in 1980.
Mbeki and the SADC are accused by critics in the West and civic bodies around
the world of treating Mugabe with kid gloves.
Global watchdog Human Rights Watch had urged SADC to use the summit to put
pressure on Mugabe's government to "end its broadscale attack on human rights".
Mugabe was absent from Friday's closing ceremony for the summit.
He told Zambia's state ZNBC television on Friday that sanctions, comprising a
travel ban and a freeze on the European accounts of top Zimbabwean officials,
are to blame for his country's economic woes, adding things are getting better.
"It is going well, relatively," he said. "We are trying to use our resources to
bring about a turn-around."
The defiant, 83-year-old Zimbabwean leader was given a rousing welcome to the
summit on Thursday, despite mounting global criticism of the crisis in his
country.
Support
Meanwhile, the United States said on Friday it supports efforts by Southern
African leaders to resolve a political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe.
US State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack said in a statement that such
engagement shows "the region considers the situation an increasing threat to
stability and is committed to a democratic and prosperous Zimbabwe".
"We regret that the Mugabe regime has not expressed a similar commitment,"
McCormack said.
The US, the statement said, deplores "the Mugabe regime's continued acts of
oppression against all segments of society". -- Sapa-AFP, Sapa-AP
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